Trajectory Search

This page features a tool to find spacecraft trajectories to planets and small-bodies. For ideas of what to search for, view the example queries page. A user guide is also available explaining search constraints, the methodology behind trajectory computations and the important limitations of the tool.

Select Destinations

NEOs with constraints:

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are bodies that orbit the sun with perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. [more]

Asteroids Comets

Max absolute magnitude of

A body's absolute magnitude gives a rough idea of its size. For example, a magnitude 25 object is approximately 35 m in size whereas a magnitude 20 object is about 350 m in diameter. [more]

Max orbit condition code of

The orbit condition code is an integer between 0 and 9 indicating how well an object's orbit is known, where 0 indicates a well-determined orbit and 9 insufficient observations for long-term orbit prediction. [more]

Custom list:

Alternatively include a custom list of NEOs or planets, one object per line. E.g. 'Apophis', 'Mars', or '2010 UE51'. [more]

A list of NEOs matching specific parameters of interest can be generated with the Small-Body database search engine.

Specify Trajectory Constraints

Mission type:

Specify if the trajectory is to include an Earth-return segment and indicate nature of encounter. [more]

Launch year:

Range of acceptable launch years, assumed to refer to January 1^st of bounding years. [more]

Max duration:

Maximum acceptable total mission duration. [more]

Max ΔV:

km/s

Maximum total ΔV (indicator of propellant requirement) from a 200 km circular Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). [more]

Minimize:

Parameter to minimize if more than one trajectory per destination is found to meet above constraints. [more]

Show:

Specify maximum frequency of optima per destination across launch year window. [more]

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Trajectory Search

NASA Ames Research Center
Trajectory Browser